One of the strangest things in China is the bubble wrapped bikes. There always seems to be a lot of bubble wrap and plastic left on items such as doors, remotes, bikes etc. In America, (except for that 90’s or 80's period where all the ‘adolescent boys’ were wearing hats and some shoes with the tags hanging off), we generally unwrap our items and immediately get rid of all the wrappings. With the new crop of Freshman there seems to be a new crop of bubble wrapped bikes. I finally had the nerve to ask some of them why they leave the bubble wrap on and one of the girls had the guts to tell me the truth – “So people know that it is new”. A month and half later the bubble wrap is starting to look pitiful but I betcha it makes a neat sound when it rubs on the spokes (remember clothes-pinning a playing card?).
